And Van der Vaart was inches away from a 67th-minute second but he thumped a curler from sub Aaron Lennon’s pass on to the bar.

But Watford weren’t giving up and Yeates came off the bench to replace Sean Mur- ray and quickly get involved in the heart of the action.

He sent over a corner from the left only for Eustace to send his header against the post.

Moments later Deeney fired a shot just wide of the upright before Joe Garner was just off target from another Yeates corner.

Yeates was at the centre of Wat- ford’s attempt in the closing stages and from his free-kick a Nyron Nosworthy’s drive was blocked by Cudicini and then Kyle Walker got in the way of Buaben’s follow-up effort.